Happy Wellness Wednesday, Garden Fam 🌸
Today, we are continuing our Stress Awareness Month Series.
As you should know by now, chronic stress can be a real enemy to multiple aspects of our health, so I’m hoping our series will provide you with practices, tips, and mindsets you can implement to manage and minimize stress in your life, and live in the abundant joy and peace that God has for each of us.
This week we are diving into how you can manage stress in busy seasons. To clarify, physical, mental, and emotional stress can be a natural human response to life’s pressures, but can become unhealthy when we are constantly in a state of high tension or worry. In life, we should aim to minimize stress through practices like planning ahead and setting up systems and processes in our lives that allow us to care for ourselves and release stress on a regular basis. In the times when some level of pressure is unavoidable, such as when striving to achieve goals and meet deadlines, in caring for others, or even in working to fulfill God-given assignments, there are things we can do to manage the stress that exists, so that we are not just absorbing it and allowing it to wreak havoc in our minds, bodies, and spirits.
Check out today's podcast & the tips highlighted in the episode transcript below.
Let me know in the comments:
How do YOU manage stress in busy seasons?
Have a healthy & wholesome week!
Love you bunches 🍇
P.S. Check out today's sponsor, Reorganize with Rhaven if you need help minimizing stress by getting and staying organized.
Episode Transcript & Today's Tips
"The very first thing I recommend is to lean on God for His supernatural power and grace to carry out whatever it is that you need to do. Lean on Him, for His strength is made perfect in our weakness. I go into detail about this a lot more in the first episode of this series. Check that one out if you need more guidance on how to actually lean on God in order to live a life of less stress.
The next thing I would recommend is to consider your non-negotiable needs. Meaning, no matter what, I need these things in order to function at my best. These may change based on what season you are in, what you are working on, or other life factors, but take a moment to consider your bare minimum needs. What is the least amount of sleep you need in order to function? What meals can’t you skip? What spiritual and self-care practices are most important to you? Essentially, fill in the blank: “No matter how busy life gets, I absolutely need…”
For me, I’ve learned that I absolutely need at LEAST 6 hours of sleep, ideally 7. When I don’t get that, I function at such a lower capacity, which creates a bit more stress, because I can’t even effectively do what I set out to do for the day. In this season, working out is also a non-negotiable. Even if I have to skip a day, I know I need to honor my workout routine, because now that I don’t drink caffeine anymore, it helps me have sustainable energy throughout the day and allows my brain to function at a higher capacity. I also refuse to start my day without spending time with God. Not because of religious purposes or checking off a box, but because you build and maintain relationship by spending time. Plus, I need time with the Holy Spirit who knows all things, so that He may order my footsteps for the day. Lastly, y’all have heard me talk about this before, but smoothies and/or protein shakes really help me to get or keep going through my day.
You should also consider what can be the first things or habits to go when things start getting busy. For me, I’ll be honest, laundry, and especially folding laundry is usually the first things I neglect when things start picking up. One day, I will likely outsource this altogether, because not only do I hate doing laundry, but I always feel like I could be doing something else with my time when I’m sitting and folding clothes. This can also be pleasurable things that you can easily give up to build more time into your day and/or to save the energy for something else that is more important at the moment. For me, that’s watching tv or YouTube. For me, those are super luxuries that get cut ASAP when I need to buy back time for myself, especially tv. What are those things for you? What chores are not of utmost importance when you need the time back? What hobbies or pastimes can you do without when needed? Remember, you’ve already outlined your non-negotiable self-care things, so I am NOT suggesting that you neglect caring for yourself.
In fact, we’ll make that the next tip:
Ensure that you maintain some time to care for yourself—to nurture your needs, to laugh, to smile, to do something you enjoy, even if it’s not for as long or in the same way you normally would. You should have your non-negotiable self-care things outlined from the exercise I shared first, but still wanted to highlight this here. You must care for yourself in order to function at your best!
That brings us to tip number five: Mind what you are eating.
It can definitely be easy to junk-food out when you are super busy, because you feel like you don’t have time to cook or make healthy food choices, but healthy eating is even more important in busy seasons. Food is fuel, so you can’t put junk in your tank and expect your body to continuously function at high capacity and efficiency. It almost becomes counterproductive, because junk food often causes lethargy and brain fog, the opposite of what healthy foods will provide. Meal planning and/or prep, or at least taking the time to make the healthier food choice if you must eat out goes a long way. Your brain and body will thank you by operating in the ways they were designed to. If you consistently make healthier choices, you will likely notice that you are able to get more done, and even that you feel better while doing it. In 2023, there are many convenient ways you can do this without necessarily having to take too much time away from what you are working on by ordering your groceries, signing up for a meal planning program that delivers ingredients and recipes for your meals for the week, or even finding a meal prep program or chef who will deliver already-cooked meals for you to consume for the week. If you’re balling on a budget, you can also simplify your meals by eating one thing for breakfast all week, one or two things for lunch all week, and one or two things for dinner all week. Prepare them all at the beginning of the week and boom, you’re done.
Each of these options can also help you to minimize decision fatigue, which can often happen in seasons where you have to make a lot of decisions in a given day or week.
In that same vein, you can also consider how or in what areas you can minimize your decision-making on a regular basis, so that your thinking capacity can be reserved for what matters most. For example, can you pick out your clothes at the beginning of the week so that you don’t have to think about it each day? Can you lock in your morning and evening routines a bit more so that you don’t have to decide what to do when you wake up or as you prepare for bed? Are you able to delegate certain tasks and decisions to others in your household, on your job, or in your business? If you have a nanny, perhaps there are certain tasks that he or she can take the reins on so that you don’t have to? If you are a supervisor or CEO with employees, consider whether you can give them more autonomy in certain areas, especially if you tend to be a “do it myself” kinda person. Save your decision making energy for what matters most.
There are many more tips I could share here, but I think this is a good place to start. If you are already in a busy season, I wouldn't recommend implementing these all at once, but perhaps, start with intentionally leaning on God and also, outlining your non-negotiables. Then, go from there. If you’re not in a busy season, this is a perfect time to consider the things outlined above and start incorporating some of them into your life now, so that when things get busy, you already know what to do! This is especially true for those who know God is about to bring you into a busier season. Get ready now, so you won’t have to then!
That’s the end of today’s episode. I hope it helped you and I pray that implementing some of these tips helps you to live a stress less life! Now, I want to hear from you, what helps you to manage stress in busy seasons? I look forward to reading your responses!
If you haven’t already, check out our merch on our blog. We have some awesome faith-based hoodies, t-shirts, and notebooks to rep for the Kingdom or to be a shameless plug for The Garden of Epiphani out in the world!
Thank you again for listening and I will talk to you guys soon, God willing!
Love you bunches 🍇
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